Premiere of ‘Escape at Dannemora’ among top TV choices

CLEVELAND, Ohio – New dramas from HBO and Showtime, as well as NBC’s annual coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, are among the the top viewing choices for the week:

“My Brilliant Friend” (9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, HBO): Filmed in Italy and based on Elena Ferrante’s bestselling book of the same name, this eight-episode series tells of Elena Greco, a now-elderly woman who discovers that her most cherished friend, Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo, has disappeared without a trace. A writer in a house full of books, Elena turns on her computer and stars writing about their friendship, from the point they met in primary school in 1950. This will be HBO’s first foreign-language series.

“Escape at Dannemora” (10 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, Showtime): Produced and directed by Ben Stiller, this eight-hour miniseries is based on the 2015 headline-making prison break in upstate New York. Prison employee Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell (played by Patricia Arquette) was seduced by two convicted murderers, Richard Matt (Benicio del Toro) and David Sweat (Paul Dano), and helped them escape from the maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. Bonnie Hunt, David Morse, Eric Lange and Michael Imperioli also star. The script is by Michael Tolkin (“The Player”) and Brett Johnson, who penned scripts for Showtime’s “Ray Donovan.”